Mom Gets Life In Prison After Killing Daughter In Attempted Exorcism

An Oklahoma mom who killed her daughter by shoving a crucifix down her throat in an attempted exorcism is sentenced to life in prison.

Juanita Gomez, 51, was sentenced to life in prison in Oklahoma on Monday. Gomez murdered her daughter, 33-year-old Geneva Gomez, by forcing a wooden crucifix down her throat during an exorcism gone seriously wrong.

Juanita told investigators she had punched her daughter repeatedly before shoving the crucifix and a religious medallion down her throat.

She told police she attacked her daughter because she believed she was possessed, and that she believed the crucifix and medallion would help “rid Satan” from her body.

After watching her die, she said she tried cleaning her daughter’s body and positioned her in the shape of a cross.

According to KTLA, at the time of the crime police arrived to the home after callers asked officers to do a welfare check on one of the women living in the residence. When authorities arrived to the home they found Geneva Gomez’s body. She was bloody, with a large crucifix on her chest and had suffered severe trauma to her face and head, police said. Her mother, 50-year-old Juanita Gomez, was arrested at the scene.

Juanita Gomez told police her daughter was possessed by the devil. She admitted to punching her daughter repeatedly and forcing a crucifix and religious medallion down her throat until blood came out of her daughter’s mouth. She said she watched her daughter die and then placed her body in the shape of a cross.

However, not everyone is buying the exorcism story. Prosecutors believe that the exorcism may have been staged. Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Lavenue speculated:

I think she thought that maybe just the thought of an exorcism occurring, that would make somebody think perhaps she had a mental illness or was insane or something.

Bottom line: Juanita Gomez has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing her daughter by forcing a crucifix down her throat because she says she believed her daughter was possessed by the devil.